Category: Bay Area

MILPITAS — A Santa Clara County jail inmate died at a hospital Wednesday, just days after he was found unresponsive inside a dorm at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, according to authorities. Deputies made the discovery at 8:46 p.m. Sunday, county sheriff’s office spokesperson Brooks Jarosz said in a news release. The inmate — described as a 33-year-old man — received CPR until 9:08 p.m., when paramedics arrived to take him to an area hospital. The man was pronounced dead at the hospital around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday. He has not been identified. The in-custody death is the county’s ninth of the year. The sheriff’s office, along with the offices of the district attorney and medical examiner, is investigating the death. Jarosz said foul play is not suspected in the case. The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety booked the man into jail on Nov. 15 on drug-related charges, including being under the influence of drugs at the time of his arrest, Jarosz said. Check back for updates. Originally Published: November 21, 2024 at 9:07 PM PST

Bay Area Home Report 19661 Via Escuela Drive – Google Street View The spacious property located in the 19600 block of Via Escuela Drive in Saratoga was sold on Oct. 11, 2024 for $4,150,000, or $1,673 per square foot. The house, built in 1966, has an interior space of 2,480 square feet. This single-story home boasts a generous living space with four bedrooms and three baths. Outside, the home presents roofing composed of tiles materials. Inside, a fireplace enhances the ambiance of the living area. Additionally, the home comes with a two-car garage, allowing for convenient vehicle storage and additional storage space. The property occupies a sizable 10,200-square-foot lot. Additional houses have recently been purchased nearby: On La Vista Drive, Saratoga, in May 2024, a 1,884-square-foot home was sold for $3,465,000, a price per square foot of $1,839. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. A 3,009-square-foot home on the 19800 block of Via Escuela Drive in Saratoga sold in August 2024, for $3,800,000, a price per square foot of $1,263. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. In July 2024, a 2,312-square-foot

By Anthony Washington, The Fresh Toast He is honored for helping open the new world…and a certain plant had helped a quite a bit. There are so many myths and stories around Columbus. Did he discover North America (spoiler -looked like the Vikings beat him to the continent)? He wasn’t about gold and glory, he was about bringing religion to the world in honor of Catholic Spain. The other big myth is he was Italian, but now it is believed he was Spanish and Jewish, and hid it to avoid being prosecuted. But what about Christopher Columbus and cannabis. RELATED: Science Says Medical Marijuana Improves Quality Of Life Cannabis played a significant role in 16th century society, particularly in England and Europe. It was considered the “golden age of hemp”, especially under the reign of King Henry VIII. In 1533, the king introduced a hemp cultivation law requiring landowners to dedicate 1/4 acre for every 60 acres to growing hemp, or face fines. European herbals and pharmacopoeias of the time listed various medical applications for cannabis. The number of reported medicinal uses for cannabis doubled during this period as travelers brought back information from the East. And, it helped

BERKELEY — Authorities on Thursday arrested a 34-year-old man in connection with an injury shooting last month in Berkeley. Gunshots were reported the afternoon of Oct. 24 near the intersection of Henry Street and Berkeley Way, according to the Berkeley Police Department. Officers arrived to find signs of a shooting, but no victims or suspects. A victim later turned up at Highland Hospital in Oakland, where they were treated for a gunshot wound. Detectives identified a suspect in the shooting and secured a warrant for his arrest, police said. On Thursday morning, members of the police department’s special response team found the man at a residence in Oakland and arrested him on suspicion of assault with a firearm, negligent discharge of a firearm and shooting at an inhabited dwelling, police said. Check back for updates.

By Amy Hansen, The Fresh Toast Federally funded medical research reveals marijuana not tied to autism. Drinking, smoking and consuming marijuana while pregnant is never recommended. Over the course of history, woman have consumed liquor, especially during the period when clean water was hard to find, but child mortality was high. With advances in medicine, it has been discovered some activities, like drinking and smoking cigarettes, can cause harm to the baby. No one is saying expectant women should have booze, buds, or cigarettes. But early on, when a woman doesn’t know she is expecting, she might have engaged in these habits RELATED: Science Says Medical Marijuana Improves Quality Of Life One of the concerns circling around cannabis is how it can affect a baby’s development.  While more research needs to be done, two new studies have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) which provides some good news. The first study  focused on discovering if maternal cannabis use during early pregnancy associated with risk of child autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Photo by Anastasiia Chepinska via Unsplash This  study included 178 948 mother-child combinations. The

Bay Area Home Report 310 Orchard Drive – Google Street View A spacious house located in the 300 block of Orchard Drive in Fremont has new owners. The 2,098-square-foot property, built in 1955, was sold on Aug. 12, 2024. The $1,960,000 purchase price works out to $934 per square foot. This single-story home has three bedrooms and three baths. Additionally, the home comes with a garage. The lot of the property is substantial, measuring 0.3-acre. Additional houses have recently been sold nearby: On Goodrich Way, Fremont, in August 2022, a 2,218-square-foot home was sold for $1,825,000, a price per square foot of $823. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. A 1,011-square-foot home on the 38500 block of Goodrich Way in Fremont sold in May 2023, for $1,465,000, a price per square foot of $1,449. The home has 3 bedrooms 1 bathroom. In March 2023, a 1,520-square-foot home on Goodrich Way in Fremont sold for $1,480,000, a price per square foot of $974. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. This article was generated by the Bay Area Home Report Bot, software that

Driver killed in solo-vehicle crash in South San Francisco The wreck happened Thursday afternoon at the intersection of Airport and Oyster Point boulevards SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — A driver was killed in a crash Thursday afternoon in South San Francisco, according to police. The solo-vehicle crash was reported around 12:50 p.m. at the intersection of Airport and Oyster Point boulevards, South San Francisco police Lt. Marty Mahon said in a news release. The driver was taken to an area hospital, where he later died of his injuries, Mahon said. An investigation is underway into the crash. Anyone with information related to the case can contact the police department at 650-877-8900. Check back for updates.

With the holiday season upon us and families gathering for Thanksgiving, public health officials are preparing for the respiratory virus season to ramp up and for January — when Donald Trump will return to the White House. Several public health officials joined forces Thursday to discuss the importance and efficacy of routine vaccines, as flu and RSV start to increase nationally, with COVID almost certain to follow suit. The panel, hosted by the Big Cities Health Coalition, a group that works with the nation’s largest urban health departments, included Santa Clara County’s Health Officer, Dr. Sara Cody, and the public health officers from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Shelby County, Tennessee, and Columbus, Ohio. “Vaccines are one of the cheapest and simplest tools we have in our prevention toolbox,” said Dr. Raynard Washington, director of the Public Health Department for Mecklenburg County. While they all emphasized the efficacy of vaccines, and the importance of getting the word out, the public health officials also acknowledged a new approach for communicating with the public is necessary, because misinformation and distrust of vaccines has only grown in recent years

After months in limbo, the Bear Creek Stables in Los Gatos will live to see another day. The historic stables in Los Gatos have for years offered horse boarding, riding lessons and camps. Though the stables are owned by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, it contracts out its day-to-day operations to a third party, the Chaparral Country Corporation. In the face of mounting allegations of animal abuse against Chaparral and what Midpen staff have called “significant escalating costs” of the stables’ overall maintenance and operation, the special district’s board was poised to decide in May on whether to preserve the stables in their current form, shut down their operations or some sort of in-between. But directors voted to delay the decision, instead opting to form an ad hoc committee to work for about four months on researching and proposing an alternate solution. The ad hoc committee’s alternate solution, which the board approved in a 4-2 vote late Wednesday night, entails a phased approach to maintenance and operations, and would hand over some of those responsibilities to a nonprofit that would be better suited to

OAKLAND — Police here arrested two men who were inside a vehicle seen fleeing from a recent homicide, authorities said. The men, aged 36 and 35, were arrested on Nov. 18 after police located them in a sedan that had been listed as a “suspect vehicle” in a shooting death four days earlier. The victim, 37-year-old Dejuan Davis, of Oakland, was killed on Nov. 14, near Madison and 14th streets, during an argument, authorities said. Two suspects were seen fleeing to the sedan after the shooting, authorities said. Neither man has been charged in connection with Davis’ killing, and the 35-year-old man has already been released from jail. The 36-year-old man remains in jail for allegedly violating his probation, jail records show. A gun was recovered from the sedan, police said. It’s the second time over the past 12 months that the 36-year-old has been arrested during the course of a homicide investigation. Last January, police arrested him after a police chase in San Leandro, when he was identified by multiple eyewitnesses as a suspect in the Aug. 24, 2023 killing of Baltazar Alcaraz. He

SUBSCRIBER ONLY Visit enough breweries, and you can win growlers, beer discounts and “dad hats.” Brewer Craig Danielson of Shadow Puppet brewing company in Livermore, serves a beer during the annual Oaktober Fest in the Dimond district of Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, September 30, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) Visit enough breweries, and you can win growlers, beer discounts and “dad hats.”

San Jose City Councilmember Pam Foley summed up the situation well at a celebration this week to name the San Jose City Hall Rotunda after former Mayor Janet Gray Hayes: “What took so long?” Hayes — who started her political career when she was rebuffed about a traffic signal needed near her kids’ elementary school — was the first woman elected mayor of a major U.S. city 50 years ago in 1974. She was not the first woman on the San Jose City Council, but her election proved to be the start of a wave of women that entered the halls of politics in Santa Clara County. Janet Gray Hayes, photographed in 2001, served as San Jose mayor from 1974-82 and was the first woman elected to lead a major U.S. city. (File photo by Eugene H. Louie)  And while it took a half-century to recognize Hayes, who died in 2014 at age 87, it all came together rather quickly once the ball started rolling. A committee that included Barbara Krause, Sarah Janigian, David Pandori, Gloria Chun Hoo, Terry Christensen, Margie Matthews and Janet Gray’s

Broken gas line closes University Avenue in Palo Alto The thoroughfare is closed in both directions between Seneca and Guinda streets PALO ALTO — A gas line break in Palo Alto closed a section of University Avenue in both directions, according to a police department press release. The gas line break occurred on the 800 block of University Avenue, closing the street in both directions between Seneca Street and Guinda Street. Police notified the public about the incident at about 11:45 a.m. Thursday. There is no estimated time of reopening, so police advised people to take an alternate route.

Golden State Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton, left, passes the ball away from Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings) By Danny Emerman | demerman@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: November 21, 2024 at 12:43 PM PST The loss of Melton puts Lindy Waters III and Brandin Podziemski in the spotlight. How will they respond? Subscribe to continue reading this article. Already subscribed? To login in, click here.

The Sun Devils are in good shape if they win out, with one possible exception. Subscribe to continue reading this article. Already subscribed? To login in, click here. Originally Published: November 21, 2024 at 12:39 PM PST

Which playpen is best? Every parent knows about the dreaded silence that falls when children get into things they shouldn’t be while you aren’t looking. You can avoid this by using a playpen. Playpens can also help keep toys from being scattered everywhere by containing everything to a designated play area in addition to occasionally doubling as barriers and fences to make an entire room a playpen. The best playpen for many occasions and needs is the Baby Care Funzone Play Pen. This highly durable and incredibly safe playpen has an effortless setup and takedown. It’s pretty expensive but well worth it. What to know before you buy a playpen Types of playpens Standard: Standard playpens have no floor and generally come in adjustable sizes, with four to 14 individual panels. They typically include gates for easy entrance and exit and are often secured to the floor using suction cups or balanced on feet. Portable: Portable playpens are meant for when you’re on the go. They have a floor to protect your child from the uncomfortable ground and are typically collapsible or at the very least have

Which desk organizer is best? Office desks should be productive workspaces, but if they’re cluttered, it can be hard to concentrate and get work done. Desk organizers will help you maintain a tidy desk so you can be as professional as possible and stay on track with your workflow. Desk organizers store small office supplies in compartments, shelves or drawers. If you’re looking for a design with visual appeal, the Victor Desktop Organizer is a top choice for its fine wood craftsmanship. What to know before you buy a desk organizer Do I need a desk organizer? Desk organizers, also called desk caddies, come in handy if your desk and drawers lack organization and storage options. These caddies keep essential office supplies literally within arm’s reach, which is extremely convenient on busier days. They’re also popular investments for home offices and remote learning spaces. However, a larger desk organizer may not be ideal if you’re pressed for space. Smaller desks may be overwhelmed by some desk organizers, and in some situations, they can obstruct access to devices or other office supplies. Desk organizers may be

BERKELEY — Councilmember Sophie Hahn has conceded after a tight race for Berkeley’s top elected role, thanking supporters for their backing and wishing winner Adena Ishii best of luck as mayor. “While it’s not the outcome we hoped for, I’m full of gratitude for the amazing support you’ve shown throughout, and proud of the 100% positive campaign we ran. We shared a strong vision of progress and possibility, grounded in love for this community. To each of you who contributed time, goodwill, and funds, thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart,” Hahn said in an email Wednesday night. Latest returns from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters on Wednesday showed Ishii had received 51% of the vote while Hahn had earned 49%, after votes were retabulated in accordance with Berkeley’s ranked-choice voting system. Hahn held an early lead beginning on election night but Ishii officially pulled ahead last week, receiving the greatest number of first-place votes out of the five candidates running – 38% to Hahn’s 37%. Hahn has represented District 5 since first elected to the Berkeley City Council in 2016.

By ERIC TUCKER | Associated Press WASHINGTON — Matt Gaetz withdrew Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general following continued scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on the former congressman’s ability to be confirmed as the nation’s chief federal law enforcement officer. The Florida Republican’s announcement came one day after meeting with senators in an effort to win their support for his confirmation to lead the Justice Department. “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz said in a statement announcing his decision. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.” Gaetz’s withdrawal is a blow to Trump’s push to install steadfast loyalists in his incoming administration and the first sign that Trump could face resistance from members of his own party. Originally Published: November 21, 2024 at 9:37 AM PST

By ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Matt Gaetz withdrew Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general following continued scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on the former congressman’s ability to be confirmed as the nation’s chief federal law enforcement officer. The Florida Republican’s announcement came one day after meeting with senators in an effort to win their support for his confirmation to lead the Justice Department. “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz said in a statement announcing his decision. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.” Gaetz’s withdrawal is a blow to Trump’s push to install steadfast loyalists in his incoming administration and the first sign that Trump could face resistance from members of his own party. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. Originally Published: November 21, 2024

By BRIAN SLODYSKO, JOSHUA GOODMAN and ALAN SUDERMAN WASHINGTON (AP) — As incoming White House chief of staff, one of Susie Wiles ’ vexing challenges will be policing the buffet line of powerful interests who want something from Donald Trump. It’s a world she knows well. During Trump’s first presidency, she lobbied for many of them. Trump was first elected on a pledge to “drain the swamp” in Washington. But his transactional approach to the presidency instead ushered in a lobbying boom that showered allies, including Wiles, with lucrative contracts, empowered wealthy business associates and stymied his agenda after his administration was ensnared in a series of influence-peddling scandals. Now, as Trump prepares to return to power, his victory is likely to embolden those who think they can get his ear, raising the prospect that his second administration could face many of the same perils as his first. That will test the ability of Wiles to manage a growing number of high-powered figures — including Trump’s children, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and billionaires like Elon Musk — who will not be dependent on her for